Beyoncé and Solange’s close bond today is the result of a major, albeit taboo for its time, decision made by their mother, Tina Knowles, when they were much younger.
During recent appearances promoting her new memoir, “Matriarch,” on “CNN News Central” and “The Oprah Podcast,” the 71-year-old mother and grandmother opened up about how she once had to take her daughters to therapy to improve their relationship.
As Beyoncé, who is 43 now, reached the tween years and joined a girls’ group with her friends, Knowles noticed a divide forming between the sisters. Solange, who is 38 now, would want to join in, and when Beyoncé’s friends would reject her and toss less than kind remarks her way, the big sister would not come to her defense.
“I was terrified when Beyoncé turned around 10. She might have been 10 or 11, and she was in the singing group. And the kids would say to Solange every day, ‘Be quiet, Solange,’ because she would try to choreograph and, you know, she wanted to be involved. She bossed it, too. And they didn’t want her involved,” Knowles recalled while on CNN, per People magazine.
“And then I started noticing that Beyoncé would allow them to talk to her like that or she would say, ‘OK, Mom, can you get Solange out of here? Because she is’ — and I’m like, ‘Wait a minute, this is her house, and you’ve got to be nice to her.’ And I told her all the things, you know, how important it was for her,” she continued. “But finally, I realized that they weren’t listening, and I saw a wall between them coming, and so I got them in therapy.”
At one point, Knowles said while discussing the moment further with Oprah Winfrey, that things escalated between the two sisters to the point of Solange taking Beyoncé’s stuff and the big sister growing increasingly “mean.”
At the time, Knowles said the decision to seek out a therapist was considered taboo, especially among Black families, and she even faced criticism from the girls’ father, ex-husband Matthew Knowles, who thought the girls may have been “too young” for therapy.
“And I’m like, ‘I’m not asking. I’m going to find somebody.’ And I found this wonderful therapist, child therapist,” she said while on CNN. “And it’s funny because he told Beyoncé all the things I had told her, but she listened from him, even though she hated therapy. She hated going. Solange loved therapy. She loved talking and, you know, expressing herself.”
“And the outcome was great,” she added. “It was really great because they had been super tight since.”
The revelation into the Knowles household comes just days before National Mental Health Month is set to begin in May, and at a time when rates of Black families seeking the mental health services they need remain lower than their white counterparts. While 40% of white Americans are likely to seek the interventions they need, only about 25% of Black families do the same, according to Mass General Brigham. Black families remain less likely for a wide array of reasons, including stigma, structural and systemic barriers to care, and inherited cultural beliefs around seeking help.
Beyond that, there persists a lack of Black representation in the field. Less than 6% of psychologists are Black, according to the American Psychological Association, and while roughly 70% of family therapists are white, 14% are Black. Several groups and platforms have formed in recent years to help address the disparity, reduce the stigma, and bridge the gap, including Therapy for Black Girls and Black Therapists Rock.
It can also take people like Knowles, unabashedly telling their stories and demonstrating how it warrants reevaluation, even when communication between two parties starts to suffer, as with Beyoncé and Solange. It doesn’t have to be drastic before you phone a professional. The mother opens up further about her journey in the memoir “Matriach,” which was released on April 22, 2025.
